99182 - INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student: - will have a systematic knowledge of the principles regulating intellectual property rights under international law and on how these principles apply in the main common law and civil law systems; - will be familiar with the various types of intellectual property rights (trademarks, patents, industrial design, copyright and related rights) and will be able to identify the form of protection best suited to each specific business; - will be able to understand and critically evaluate, also with reference to globalisation and international trade, the political and economic dynamics that characterise the international intellectual property system.

Course contents

- Introduction to international intellectual property law and its principles

- The main IP theories

- Historical background, the main international treaties on IP and their development

- The TRIPs Agreement and its assessment after 30 years of its adoption

- International patent law

- Pharmaceutical patents, compulsory licensing of patents and covid vaccines + moot court con patents and covid vaccines

- Trade secrets

- Practical exercise: how would you protect your innovation?

- International copyright law

- Copyright, fair use and Internet culture

- Focus on: copyright, contemporary art and street art

- International trademark law

- Industrial design protection + practical exercise: building a strategy to launch a product that could be eligible for protection under design right

- Colonialism and neo-colonialism through intellectual property law

- The global gender gap in innovation and creativity

- The impact of AI on intellectual property protection

- Intellectual property and the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals

- Rethinking intellectual property law

During the course, group case studies, practical exercises, moot court exercises and group presentations will take place in class (in presence or online).

Readings/Bibliography

Recommended textbooks for the written exam:

Frankel S and Gervais D J, Advanced Introduction to International Intellectual Property (Edward Elgar 2016)

Dutfield G, Suthersanen U, Dimita G and Mimler M D (eds), Dutfield and Suthersanen on global intellectual property law (2nd edn, Edward Elgar 2020) – selected parts

Articles, papers and other compulsory readings will be indicated and uploaded on Virtuale by the lecturer during the course and included in the course materials for the exam preparation.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face lectures, in presence.

Tutorials, practical exercises, moot court exercises, case studies, group presentations and the mock exam will be delivered in hybrid mode, in-presence and online (virtual classroom).

The course is part of the University’s experimental teaching project, as it is carried out through blended learning.

Assessment methods

For attending students:

50% of the final grade is determined by an oral group presentation on a legal case/topic among those given by the lecturer

50% of the final grade is determined by the final written examination (closed-book exam, with open problem-solving questions, duration: 1 hour), where you can answer only 1 question of your choice out of 2

Attendancy to 70% of lectures allowes you to be considered "attending" and will be registered by the lecturer. 

For non-attending students:

100% of the final grade is determined by the final written examination (closed-book exam, with 2 open problem-solving questions, duration: 1 hour)

Teaching tools

The module is carried out in hybrid mode, in-presence and online, for more dynamic teaching activities.

Students with learning disabilities are invited to contact the lecturer to agree on the most suitable arrangements for the final examination.

Office hours

See the website of Eleonora Visentin